Each Week Made In Bridgeport will be visiting a Bridgeport business or project/ program where People make things. As many people know much of the things we make in our shop is recycled materials. So I can't say enough about the amazing adventure and the creative potential that can be found at The Greater Bridgeport Community Enterprises, Inc. THE GREEN TEAM. You can find out more about this great program at www.greenteambpt.com

Todays Field trip brought me to vist the Green Team located at 459 Iranistan Ave Bridgeport Connecticut. I am meeting Adrienne to discuss an April Pop Up Shop to display and demonstrate jewelry recycling. We are working on a great plan.

I was honored to meet up with Adrienne Houel President & CEO of The Green Team . I have known Adrienne for years. She gets Art!!! And She Gets Artists!!! She is a Creative Force for making great things happen in Bridgeport CT. Her program assists others with Education, Support and jobs through programs that are "Green" Focused through the Greater Bridgeport Community Enterprises Inc and her Green Team Organization.

One of the Businesses Created Through this Project is called "Next Chapter Books". Books are donated and recycled from area libraries in Connecticut and also donated by us local book worms.

These books are creating jobs and an opportunity to keep the massive amounts of discarded books out of the dumps . Some of the books are chosen for their Amazon Storefront. "Next Chapter Books Storefront. Walking through the warehouse Adrienne pointed out there are as many as 800 books per large freight box, they also have CD's, VHS, Books on Tape and all subject matters.Some of the lesser quality books are set aside and packed up to be recycled for pulp and repurposed/ recycled for new items. ( I would love to get my hands on a couple of the picture books, can you imagine a mixed media artists very own living dream.)

This is Andre uploading and researching the books to go on Amazon

Allen preparing Shipping and Handling. A large order today.

Another Program Recycles Used Mattresses and Box Springs. It kind of reminded me of The Princess and The Pea when I first saw the floor to ceiling piles. These are taken apart and the metal, the wood, the plastic and springs... well each part is put in separate bins and sold for metal or plastic to lots of companies who use the recycled materials for their products. That's a Win Win and I will throw in another Win...cause it really is. The Wood Gets recycled as well. The Next photo is of the amazing book shelves that all these books are catalouged and stored on for The Next Chapter Book Storefront. We are in the process of discussing a future opportunity for people to come and create there own from the box spring's wood. I will keep you posted.

Isn't this awesome? Hey how can we get Lara Spencer to sponsor a maker event her at The Green Team making book shelves?? Pass it on if you know her please!!! I would be so excited.

SPRINGS!!! A lot of thoughts on what we could make with Springs, especially as displays for our Made In Bridgeport Shop.

I felt so energized by my visit and am looking forward to doing some fun projects. We are planning a Pop Up Shop event so stay Tuned.

If you know of an organization that Makes Things In Bridgeport and are making a difference in their community. Please Contact Us We would love to here from you. And if you yourself have a gift for creativity schedule a time to meet me, you can reach me through comments or out Contacts Page or email me directly madeinbridgeport@gmail.com

"Would You Like to Buy a Stick?"Go to FLASHBACK-The vision of a Blonde curly haired 5 year old girl with her tricycle turned upside down spinning a wheel to sand the edges of a stick. The neighbor walking down the street stops to admire the industrious youth and asks what she is up to. The child tells him how she is going to create these great sticks to sell to people. The neighbor says But " Mother Nature already creates the sticks from the large trees she has planted". The Child responds, "yes, but she leaves me the broken pieces to make soft and lovely". The neighbor laughs out loud, " How much for a stick?" The Girl says, "A quarter, a nickel, a penny and a dime" He asks why she wants a quarter, a nickel, a penny and a dime?, She says because I like how they go big to small AND because sticks are important. He asks, "what do you do with sticks?" she says. "I like to draw with them". He says "You are an artist" She responds "Yes", (though she doesn't even know what an artist is- YET.) The neighbor pays her 2 quarters, 2 nickels, 2 pennies and a pair of dimes. And That's how the Story of Entreprenuership begins.

About 3 weeks ago, I found this little clear marble. A story began to take shape as I saw images transferred through the glass- everything was upside down. I began to think about other worlds and the worlds of the unseen. The thought of Fortune Telling became the basis of this new piece I am creating.

I found this really cool brass piece, I am assuming it has something to do with door hardware or plumbing. I liked that it had a large hole in the center and thought about how the marble could be added to it. I also imagined a key as a dangling piece. Looking through my hardware box I found a key with the letters ESP on it. This helped to confirm and validate the Fortune Tellers story necklace as it was meant to be.

Rummaging through the many boxes of "found stuff", I was searching for things that might be important to telling ones fortune. The crystal came from a broken earring, the 4 leaf clover was a charm from a broken necklace, the hand was from a little package of assorted hands I had just lying around. The black metal piece came from a pair of restructured earrings.

If I cannot create a cold connection with wire or adding a hole, my adhesive of choice is E6000. Use this with caution, it is not as dangerous as crazy glue when handling it ( I glued my fingers together with crazy glue once..it was not fun trying to get my fingers apart) With E6000 you have a little bit of time to reposition your pieces and it cleans up very well. So Here I begin to assemble everything.

While looking for jumprings to attach everything I found another orphaned earring and on it a little brass heart. I assembled all the pieces, glued the hand on the black metal piece3 to the key and added a chain from a storage box. Here is the Finished piece below:The Fortune Teller predicts you will be lucky in Love.

I predict that you will have fun creating from your own Found Objects. Sometimes it takes years for me to create a piece, sometimes the parts just all come together in one sitting. While making this piece I was in a zone a place where I was fully present with each of the objects as they were revealed they were acknowledged and their story began to take form. I hope you will begin to look at your found objects differently, those broken bit and pieces can become the highest form of the creative process. Please let me know what you are making in Bridgeport or any place where you create. Leave your comments or questions. Thanks!

As many of you may or may not know I have had this dream to be an entrepreneur in Bridgeport since I was 5 years old. I have always been a tinkerer, a creative old soul who enjoys the challenges and gratification of making something-well dare I say?...Out of Nothing!!!

It may have started even earlier when I learned I had the ability to sell a stick, because I convinced a neighbor that it had unique qualities. You might say I had a gift for seeing the extraordinary in everyday things and as much a gift for telling a great story. It is this foundation that ignited my passion for creating art, jewelry and accessories from Found and Repurposed objects.

My connection to Bridgeport,Connecticut- (my place of birth) began in grammar school and with family life. I was growing up in a manufacturing city with family members and family friends who worked in various Industrial sites throughout the City of Bridgeport. My memories go deep in a visit to the Warner Factory where my mother worked ( She would work in many factories in my lifetime). The women at their sewing machines would always give me gifts. The large thread cones became Christmas favors decorated and filled with candy and toys. This was also the case at the American fabrics Building as well. I was fascinated by how things were manufactured, how things were designed. I loved the movement of machines. Later my mother, then divorced, would work at Remington Arms unloading trains in Remington Woods Park. She was a larger woman from the backwoods of Maine growing up among many siblings and then in the 70's raising two daughters. She had the strength and gumption to show the men what she was capable of doing as it was during the time of the Women's Liberation Movement. We could see the Remington shot tower less than 1 block from our home. And General Electric was spread out in both directions from our home as well. Today it is a haunted ghost of what once was a sentinel for prosperity and growth.

I was lucky on so many levels to grow up in a city rich with opportunities, jobs and the University of Bridgeport where I got my lessons in the creative and technical skills of art and creating. My father worked for Connecticut Vendors. He fixed and filled most of the machines- cigerettes, candy, sandwiches and records in the jukeboxes. As a child at age three, I would get to travel in my fathers large van that had so many smells , but most memorable is the Juicy Fruit (TM) gum, Planters Peanut (TM) blocks, and cigarette smells that permeated my little childhood senses on any given day when my mother took ill during her pregnancy. I always enjoyed when my father worked on the UB campus, as I had the chance to hang out with the art students and sit in on classes. I developed quite a liking to art and all the attention it got my little kewpie doll self. Later I would discover the Salvation Army and my best friend who's father owned a soda manufacturing company across the street from my house.

I went to Summerfield School and was the student who was so creative, won awards, was a contestant in the Tom Thumb and Lavinia Contest. I also won awards and shook hands with then Mayor Curran for a poster I designed for the fire department.

I was the person that teachers left to monitor the classroom when they had to leave the room. The student who created plays and designed class activities based on art and drawing. And I loved being in school the most and hated when summer came. I had Summer melancholia until the first day of school began. I must have been quite a handful to my mother, who enrolled me in Art Linklater's School of Dance. I loved to dance, I loved gymnastics and it kept me busy and active. I loved to entertain and make people feel good about themselves. I always wished that I could say hello and shake hands with every person on the planet. I wanted to know everyone and wanted them to know me.

So this is an introduction to my entrepreneurial training. This is what shaped me into the person I am. I love to make things. I love to create ...whether its a work of art or a fantastic meal, to me this is the nature of what makes me an artist.